Fisker-Galpin’s Rocket Is a Carbon Fiber, 725 Horsepower Ford Mustang

The name Henrik Fisker conjures different things for different people, but for the casual automotive enthusiast, it’s likely correlated with the Karma, the svelte, luxury plug-in hybrid sedan that bore his last name — for better or for worse — and was considered to be a viable threat against Tesla before the company was met with bankruptcy in a spectacular fashion.

It’s easy to forget that Henrik Fisker has has a long and prosperous career in automotive pursuits prior to that particular flame-out, and it’s apparent that he’s not done yet. Having abandoned his hybrid ambitions and leaving the Fisker brand to live on under Chinese ownership (and as a V8-powered super sedan after some conversion work by former GM boss Bob Lutz), the Dane has teamed up with Galpin Auto Sports to put their spin on what they believe to be the ultimate American muscle car.

Source: Justin Lloyd-Miller/Autos Cheat Sheet

“As you can see, it’s a Mustang,” said Henrik Fisker of his latest creation, the Rocket, once the curtain came off at the Los Angeles Auto Show. He’s right — although it’s been heavily modified with the help of Galpin Auto Sports, it’s still an immensely powerful, super lightweight Mustang, with all sorts of added bits to make it seriously fast. Like, Hellcat fast.

With the exception of the doors and the roof, the Rocket’s body has seen its traditional metal bodywork swapped out with carbon fiber, helping the car drop numerous pounds (even the grille is carbon fiber). The several holes throughout the car — the hood vents, intake ducts, side vents — are all functional, and all designed to pull heat away from the engine while encouraging greater downforce.

Source: Justin Lloyd-Miller/Autos Cheat Sheet

“It’s a special moment when you get to work on a car like the Ford Mustang. This is a project born out of passion, it’s a dream come true, to have the opportunity to “touch” a Mustang and apply my design ideas to it,” said Fisker in the joint press release. “I love the [’60s] American muscle cars. They are more sculptured, with more radical proportions and bold details than European counterparts. My favorite Mustang is the 1968 Shelby GT500 that had this long hood and huge air intakes; it gave me butterflies the first time I saw it. We wanted to recreate that feeling with this car.”

The car is polished off with a set of 21-inch ADV.1 wheels, which do little to hide the 15-inch set of Brembo brakes located within. The wheels are wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero extreme performance rubbers, and the fully adjustable suspension setup can be customized to the owner’s specifications.

Source: Justin Lloyd-Miller/Autos Cheat Sheet

Galpin spokesperson Nathan Hoyt told Autoblog that the V8 underneath is a Whipple supercharger-equipped 5.0 liter V8, which pushes all 725 horsepower through a manual transmission on its way to the rear wheels. That makes it more powerful than the Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which at 707 horsepower is currently the most powerful production muscle car available.

Reportedly, Hoyt also told Autoblog that the car would be selling in the neighborhood of $100,000. While this would traditionally be considered quite a bargain on a 725 horsepower car, the Hellcat sells for just $63,000 or so, and new models of the Camaro and Mustang will likely make leaps to accommodate the new competition once they’ve been released. The rest of the price, then, is largely made up from the exclusivity; no official production numbers were offered, but Fisker did say at the Los Angeles Auto Show that the Rocket would in fact be put into a limited run early next year.